be done at the airport or frankly anywhere else in the country since they are not in the u.s. s eyes a legally recognized government? thank you. thank you. our focus right now is on getting our citizens and getting other partners, afghan partners, third country partners working in afghanistan with us out of the country and to safety. for that purpose, first the taliban whether we like it or not is in control, largely in control of the country. certainly control of the city of kabul and it s been important to work with them to try to facilitate an ensure departure of those who want the leave. that has been something that we have been focused on from the beginning of this operation because as a practical matter,
depart for a range of reasons as we ve also outlifnltd i would also note that a big factor on the president s mind and the secretary of state noted this as well is the real threat of isis-k which is the reason why and the president again received a briefing on that as he does regularly from his national security team. that is why we re concerned about numbers around the airport. that is why we are in direct contact through a range of means of individuals on when and how to come to the airport and that is something that we have to evaluate each day as well because putting our service men and women at risk is something that weighs heavily on the president s mind. and a question on the supreme court. sure. the supreme court basically kicking back on the remain in mexico. what s the white house response to that? i know the department of homeland security put out a statement on this last evening so let me reiterate some of those points. we respectfully disagree with
maybe that are working on a range of projects they are not ready the leave. i know that s hard for us to understand but for many of these afghans, this is their home. yes they are dual citizens. it s our responsibility to make sure we are reaching out to them. we are providing opportunity and finding ways to get them o the airport and evacuate them but it is also their personal decision on whether they want to depart. go ahead. could i just follow up a bit on some refugees. first, you talk about the vetting that s going on outside of the united states after they leave iraq i didn t mean to imply outside. some of it is happening in qatar but some is happening here. okay. i mean it s before the people come to the united states. it s happening before they arrive? yes. some of the vetting is within your control. you can add more people, more interviewers.
question? any concrete steps that you can give to people worried about whether they will be forgotten, left behind, disappeared once the united states withdraws the military and can no longer protect their safe passage to the airport or other livelihoods? the short answer is no. they will not be forgotten. we will use every diplomatic, economic assistance tool at our disposal working hand in hand with the international community first and foremost to ensure that those who want to leave afghanistan after the 31st are able to do so. as well as deal with other issues that we need to be focused on including counter terrorism and expectations of future afghan government. i mentioned a few moments ago that we got 114 countries around the world to make clear to the
number 1, it is that the taliban, the contingency of the taliban honoring their compliments publicly and privately to ensure safe passage of americans that want to get out can get out beyond next tuesday. that is what we re hinging all of this on. a very interesting development because if you are not able to get into that airport and you re an american, that clock that was ticking just got a little louder and faster knowing that you re fully dependent now on the taliban honoring their word. the secretary also said that if indeed the taliban does not honor their commitment, then he will use every diplomatic, economic tool that he had as hits disposal to isolate that government and it will be one that they cannot work with. a very interesting press conference there indeed. the first press conference the secretary state since the fall of kabul.